Someone’s happy with her League of Legends ranking.
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Strange times calls for strange tactics: US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is using video games in an attempt to inspire people to vote. Ocasio-Cortez, more knwon as AOC, is streaming Among Us, one of the most popular online games, right now on Twitch alongside streamers Pokemane and Hasanabi.
The stream began at around 8:40 p.m. ET, before the advertised 9 p.m. kickoff. Ocasio-Cortez took that time to encourage viewers to vote, and do so in advance of election day if possible. The stream currently has over 325,000 viewers — and quickly rising. The all-time record for concurrent views on a single Twitch stream is Ninja’s 616,000, achieved with the help of Drake and Travis Scott. AOC has some help too, as she’s been joined on the stream by fellow congresswoman, and Squad member, Ilhan Omar.
It all started Monday with a tweet from Ocasio-Cortez.
Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
“Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote?” The congresswoman asked on Twitter. She hasn’t played the game before, she added.
Among Us is a smart choice. A social deduction game, Among Us is basically an online version of the party game Mafia. Set on a spaceship, one or two players are “imposters” attempting to sabotage a team of crewmates trying to do their tasks and figure out who the imposters are. In 2020, it’s soared in popularity to become one of the most played games on online streaming site Twitch. Right now more people are watching Among Us on Twitch than any other game, including perennial favorite Fortnite.
After asking who she should stream with, hordes of popular streamers raised their hands in response.
Ocasio-Cortez launched her Twitch channel and, in a single day, has garnered 289,000 followers. You can expect that number to soar dramatically as the stream continues. She’s already surged past other high-profile politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump, who are already established on the platform. Sanders has 158,000 followers and Trump has 143,000.
Considering Ocasio-Cortez has publicly declared her love for video games on numerous occasions (she has a silver rank in League of Legends and has dropped in on Twitch chats before) it’s surprising AOC has taken this long to launch a Twitch channel. This could be the first of many streams and is already inspiring other politicians to jump onboard. Fellow Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has already launched her own channel in Ocasio-Cortez’s wake.
